Apocalypse, With And Without God

It is not enough that the murderous ravings of David Koresh and his apocalyptic religious cult have turned into a terrible human tragedy. There seems to be a great desire to turn it into a cultural statement. The siege at Waco has occasioned a worldwide festival of commentary -- and condescension -- on the subject of American primitivism. An Israeli TV interviewer asked me to explain to his audience why it is that America seems to throw up these weird religious cults at such regular intervals. I pointed out that Israel sports the Ateret Hacohanim, a group of believers so convinced...